


Fire Escape

by elmarienz



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, and jack doesn't want him to leave, davey is going back to school, okay I have no idea how to tag, period typical internalized homophobia (not much though), sorry jack's accent and diction is a lil inconsistent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 09:40:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11483730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elmarienz/pseuds/elmarienz
Summary: “I want to go back, Jacky.”“Why?”“Because... You know why.”“Yeah,” Jack said quietly. “I do. I just wish you wasn’t leaving.”





	Fire Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic, so constructive criticism is very appreciated! The characterization didn't come out quite how I wanted it to, but oh well, just gotta practice some more.  
> ANYWAYS, in this, Jack's illustrating job is part time, so he still sells the afternoon / evening papes. Also, I'm not sure how relevant it is to the story, but in my mind, Jack makes enough now that he's renting an unused dressing room at the theatre.

Medda’s fire escape had become a tradition. After a long day of hawking headlines from streetcorners, Jack and David would walk Les home before finding their way to the theatre. Sometimes, they went in and watched whatever show was going on, laughing quietly from the private box at the ridiculous dance numbers and sparkly costumes. But more often, Jack would retrieve a canvas and set of paints Medda had given him, and David would pull out a library book he’d been carrying, and they’d find themselves out behind the theatre on the fire escape, alternating between comfortable silence and quiet conversation.

It was Sunday evening, and the muggy heat of late summer gave way to a cool breeze as the sky began to darken. It was getting late, David realized, and soon it would be too dark for either of them to continue their respective activities. 

Jack kept painting, but David abandoned any pretense of reading. His eyes traced every swipe of paint, every droplet that splattered onto the metal floor below. He couldn’t see Jack’s face, but he could picture it. Unguarded. Free. Eyes wide, mouth opened slightly in concentration. He loved watching Jack paint. He loved Jack. 

David shook his head. That wasn’t something he could be thinking. He knew that Jack didn’t have a problem with boys who wanted other boys instead of girls- Spot and Race had made sure of that- but that didn’t mean that Jack was one of those boys, and it didn’t mean that it wasn’t illegal. And Jack liked girls, after all. David had seen him kiss plenty of them. It was late. He’d already missed supper, and tomorrow, he would be attending school for the first time since his father’s injury. Him, back in school. The very thought was surreal, after a year on the streets.

“Jack?”

“What is it, Dave?”

David smiled. No one else called him Dave. The name was reserved only for Jack, and hearing it never failed to trigger a warm feeling in his chest.

“I should be getting home. My parents will be waiting for me, and-“

There was a clatter as Jack abruptly dropped his paintbrush. “Stay.”

“I have school tomorrow, Jack,” David sighed. “You know that.”

“You ain’t gotta go. ‘S been a year, what’s another day?”

David shook his head. He’d spent the last year watching boys pass him on their way to class as he crisscrossed the street selling the morning paper. He missed school. It wasn’t as though his education had stopped. He picked up books from the library when he could, and occasionally tagged along with Katherine as she worked on a story. Plus, the streets of New York had taught him things that he doubted a classroom ever could. Still, he was eager to return, to receive a diploma and even go on to college.

“I want to go back, Jacky.” 

“Why?”

“Because... You know why.”

“Yeah,” Jack said quietly. “I do. I just wish you wasn’t leaving.”

“I’m not,” David replied. “I’ll be with you every weekend, selling papes. Even with my father back at work, I need money the money. To save for college.”

At the mention of college, Jack stiffened.

“So you can go be with all them smart kids at some fancy school where you belong, huh? An’ being a newsie’ll just be some bad dream?” The words sounded like an accusation.  
David was thrown off, and more than a little confused. They’d talked about college before. Jack had supported his ambitions of getting an education, becoming a reporter. Why did he seem so unhappy about it now? And remembering his time as a newsie as a bad dream? That was ridiculous. No bad dream could’ve given him that kind of a purpose- that kind of a family. No bad dream could’ve given him Jack Kelly, the infuriating boy with wide brown eyes who made David feel like… Well, like he’d never felt around anyone else before. The boy who was currently resting his face in is hands, elbows propped up by the metal railing.

“You’ll have all them genius friends and I reckon you won’t have no use for me anymore.”

“Jack-“

“An’ it’s fine, you was never going to be here forever anyway. You were always gonna leave.”

Oh. David placed a hand carefully on Jack’s forearm. “I’m not going to leave you, Jack. As if I could.”

Jack laughed bitterly. “You say that. But you’re goin’ places, Davey. I’m never gettin’ off these streets, no matter how many fancy illustration jobs I work. You and me, we don’t mix.”

David didn’t register how it happened, but suddenly, he and Jack were inches apart, and Jack’s paint-stained hands were clasped around his. “I don’t wanna lose you, Dave.”

“You won’t.”

David’s heart was racing, beating so strongly that he felt it might burst from his chest. His gaze drifted involuntarily from Jack’s eyes down to his lips, and when he looked back up, the other boy gave an almost imperceptible nod. 

David was feeling reckless. A feeling that he’d felt for the first time when he stepped up next to Jack and declared the formation of a union. A feeling that he only ever seemed to experience when he was with Jack. So quickly that he might have imagined it, he pressed his lips to Jack’s. And then the reality of what he’d just done hit, and he stumbled backwards.

“Shit, Jack, I’m sorryIdidn’tmeantoIshouldgo.”

Jack looked at him with a funny expression and stepped forward, grabbing David’s arm. 

“Stay,” he said quietly. “Please, Dave.”

Before David had a chance to respond, before he had a chance to run away and never, ever look the other boy in the eyes again, Jack kissed him. Jack’s lips were chapped and dry, but they slotted against his own perfectly and the hand that the shorter boy had pressed against his back in order to pull him closer was very nice.  
After several long moments, David pulled away. He turned, resting his hands of the railing.

They stood there in silence for a moment, taking in the blackened shapes of the city against the darkening sky, before David remembered what they had been discussing, what Jack had been worried about.

“Just because I’m going back to school, it doesn’t mean…” David trailed off. “You’re my best friend, Jack. And… more than that.” He reached for Jack’s hand, and the other boy grinned at him as he took it. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

“Be here tomorrow. After school.” 

“I will be.” David started down the fire escape, not entirely sure what had just happened, or what any of it meant. But he was smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
